Understanding Child Protection

A Child Protection Conference is where a group of people come together to talk. It happens when it is thought that something has gone wrong in your family and that you or other children in your family are not safe.

It might be because you or other children in your family have been hurt or not looked after properly by the person or people who should keep you safe.

A Social Worker will meet with you and your family to try to understand what is happening. If they are worried, they will arrange a Conference so that everyone who knows you and your family can talk about what has happened.

The Social Worker will talk to you about the meeting and see if it would be a good idea for you to be there. If you don’t want to be there, or the social worker thinks it would not be a good idea for you to be there, they will ask you if there are things you want the meeting to know.

If you do come to the meeting, you can bring someone with you. The person who runs the meeting is called the Conference Chair Person. It is their job to make sure the meeting is fair and everyone has their say.

If you come to the meeting, the Chair Person will meet you before it starts to help you understand what the meeting will be like and to make sure you can say what you think. They might ask that you don’t stay in the room for the whole meeting.

The people who know your family, like school, doctors or nurses, the social worker, and your parents, will sit round a table to talk. If people are still worried about your situation, they will decide what needs to happen to make you safer. This is called a Child Protection Plan. You will be able to have a copy of this plan.